


fond farewells

by DesertLily



Series: Whumptober 2020 [28]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Goodbyes, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Jedistormpilot - Freeform, Jedi, Kinda, Multi, POV Rey (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Reflection, Rey is a Skywalker (Star Wars), Unredeemed Kylo Ren, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27254536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: Every time Rey had to say goodbye and the one time she got to say hello.
Relationships: Kylo Ren & Rey, Leia Organa & Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey, Rey & Han Solo, Rey & Luke Skywalker, Rey & the Jedi
Series: Whumptober 2020 [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946296
Kudos: 14
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	fond farewells

**Author's Note:**

> Me with strong Star Wars opinions? It's more likely than you think! For the 'goodbye' prompt for Whumptober

Before she had been a Skywalker - before she had really been  _ anyone _ \- Rey had understood what it meant to be alone. She had understood what it was to be as good as faceless and nameless; just another scavenger. Like every Skywalker, her story had begun in hardship on a desert planet. She had begun as something unextraordinary and become something so much more. Though, perhaps that wasn’t entirely true. Rey had never been unextraordinary. She had never had the chance to be. 

She would never remember the faces of her parents and she would never learn their names, but Rey remembered being left behind. She remembered the kiss her mother had pressed to her forehead and the fierce hug her father had given her; as if he never wanted to let go. She hadn’t understood that their goodbye was permanent, at the time. How could she? How could Rey possibly know that she would never see them again? It was her first real loss. The loss of a chance of normality; of the chance of happiness. All because of her grandfather and his lust for power. The same grandfather she would go on to destroy. That was what let her finally let go of her parents. The  _ thing _ that had hunted and killed them was gone. Rey wasn’t sure how much she believed in an afterlife but she hoped they were happy. She hoped they had finally achieved peace. 

Han Solo was what Rey imagined having a father would be like. He was grumpy and grouchy and miserable, but he was sharp and witty. She had grown up idolising him. How could she not?! The Millennium Falcon was one of the greatest ships in the universe! Han had been a  _ slight _ let down at first. But he had still agreed to help her and Finn. Both him and Chewbacca had looked out for them. And from what Chewie had later told her about him, Rey would have liked to get to know him better. Smuggling and scavenging had their own similarities. There were so many questions she would have had for him. So much she could have learnt. Because beneath it all, Han Solo had a good heart. She saw it when he refused to kill Kylo Ren. She saw it when his son slaughtered him. Deep down, Rey knew Han wasn’t hers to mourn. She had barely known him, after all. But she did. She said her farewell by continuing to fly the Falcon; by making sure at least part of Han Solo’s legacy lived on. 

Rey had grown up on stories and legends about Luke Skywalker. Even if none had been told to her directly. She had caught snippets in conversation. After all, no one would ever forget the downfall of the Empire and the rise of the First Order. No one would forget that the rebels were still out there. There was a little bit of hope even if no one would ever acknowledge it. So she had high expectations about meeting Luke Skywalker! She had been excited! But the man she had met was no grand hero. He was a survivor haunted by his past. Rey had hated him at first; been frustrated by him but he wasn’t so terrible. Not deep down. He was the last Jedi and he taught her things no one else ever could. He had at least some faith in her. Then Luke had sacrificed himself to save them all. Rey’s farewell to him was through staying on the path to the light. Luke’s final student would not fall. She would not fail. 

General Leia Organa was perhaps the greatest woman Rey would ever have the honour of meeting. She had once been a princess and still acted with the grace of one. To meet the woman was to be both intimidated and in awe. She had taken Rey under her wing; accepted her when few others ever had. If Han was what Rey imagined a father to be like, Leia was what she  _ knew _ a mother to be like. Leia had a strength Rey would never truly understand. She had lost everything again and again, but she still stood tall. She had grown from a princess in distress to a general unlike any other. She was the daughter of Darth Vader but had still banished the man from her legacy. That was how Rey said goodbye to her. She grew into something so much more than just a scavenger; she grew strong. She threw away the name Palpatine with a refusal to acknowledge it was even hers. Rey wore the name Skywalker to honour the legacy Luke and Leia left behind. 

The Jedi were dead and gone. There was no disputing that. After the death of Luke, it was finalised. After the death of Palpatine, the Sith were gone too. The universe had long since moved on from needing either. They were light and dark; good and evil. Two warring factions where neither could ever truly win. One couldn’t exist without the other. Rey was a child born of the Sith, but trained by the Jedi. In her deepest hour of need, it had been the ghosts of the peacekeepers that had given her strength. She would never forget it. She would never let them be forgotten. Rey would remember what they had done every time she used the force. She would understand the weight behind it and all the harm it could do. But she would also remember the good. Perhaps Rey would not live her life entirely by Jedi teachings, but she would carry their legacy. After all, she was the last person to ever be taught it. 

Neither Kylo Ren nor Ben Solo deserved her goodbye. He deserved nothing from her. He deserved nothing from anyone. Perhaps Rey had once thought him to be redeemable but looking back on it...She had just been lonely. She had been scared and confused with powers she could never truly understand. Kylo had offered an easy solution. Rey had been naive when she thought there was even an ounce of good in him. There wasn’t. Perhaps Kylo had thought there had been but there wasn’t. He wanted power and control; to be at the top of the food chain. He wanted her - not as a friend or as a partner, but as a pawn. Kylo only ever wanted to  _ own _ her. He wanted another power source by his side. All he ever wanted was to make sure she would never be a threat to him. Perhaps Kylo tried to convince himself otherwise; tried to convince himself that there was the smallest piece of Ben Solo left but there wasn’t. 

There had been one reason he had come to her aid in the end. Her grandfather. Sheev Palpatine. Darth Sidious. The Emperor. Darth Vader’s master. A thousand and one titles that drew Kylo Ren in. If he destroyed Palpatine then he would be the greatest Sith of all time. Rey was merely a stepping stone in the end. She didn’t know why Kylo saved her and quite frankly? She didn’t care to know. The kiss she had gifted him was not one of love or respect. It was his last goodbye. A moment where she proved she was far more than him. Rey was far more than his equal. Perhaps she pitied him or felt sorry for him. But he would not be mourned. He was terrible and unjust, and saving her life would not undo the countless people he had killed or hurt. 

Returning to the rebel encampment was as terrifying as it was exciting. They had won. Somehow, after everything, they had all won. For the first time in her life, Rey felt as if she could truly breathe. For the first time in her life, things were okay. Her eyes glanced around the swarm of fighters and survivors, searching for two in particular. Then Rey saw them and just for a single moment, time froze. After that she was running full speed until her arms were around Poe and Finn. They were there. They were alive. They had all made it. 

None of them said anything for a while. They just all held each other. All three of them needed this. They needed this unity. This familiarity. This  _ love _ . For it was love. There was no other word that could describe the feelings between the three of them except for pure, untainted love. It did not matter if it was platonic or romantic. It just mattered that they had each other. They’d all work out the semantics later. 

Then, for the first time in her life, Rey got to stop saying goodbye. She got to say hello. She got to build herself a future. There was no fear or uncertainty anymore. Just for that one perfect moment, there was no evil or threats. There was just Rey and the people she loved most. She felt unstoppable. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated or hmu @ desert-lily on tumblr!


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